Two Unknown Spartans: Phoenix Squad
by Travis Castiel Olivera
Summary: Two Spartans both deadly in their own way. They have been friends since children and maybe they might become a bit more. Follow Phoenix Squad as the fight covenant and their own emotions.
1. Prologue

_[AN] So I am back to writing…. Wow it's been I think around three to four years since my first story. I had this idea for so long and finally I gave in and have started writing. I have no idea how long this will be but I can guarantee it will be longer than 7 chapters as that's how many I have planned out but not written so far. I am rambling now so I'll get to the point this is M for Mature and as always PLEASE REVIEW. I'm not desperate really I'm not._

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo and most likely never will unless I win the lottery hahahaha :( . That won't happen. However I do own Phoenix One Loki and Phoenix Two Lexi

**_HALO- Page Break_**  
_HALO- Computers_  
HALO- Talking  
**HALO- Intercom**

Prologue

Spartan- Phoenix One  
Location: Upon a Pale Horseman (UNSC Shadow Class Cruiser)  
Time: 1300 Hours, 1:00pm  
Mission Status: Inbound to Mission.

My name is classified; only one person knows who I am and she is an enigma just like myself. We're a team you see, call signs Phoenix One and Phoenix Two. It's slightly ironic how secretive the Spartan two program was at the beginning and yet when they went public there were two teams that were still unknown to the public, Phoenix Squad and Grey Team. Grey Team is still listed as MIA and they are one of the only groups of spartans who actually are an unknown. Phoenix Two often brings up her two sense on whether or not they are dead. I tell her that I don't know but my instinct tells me that Mike and the rest of Grey Team are alive.  
I'm getting off the point of this field entry; me and two have been sent on a mission to infiltrate a breeding world for Yanme'e breeding grounds, eliminate all hostiles and plant the nukes. What sucks about the mission is we have to plant the nukes around the entire planet in order to destroy everything. Now I don't know why but I feel the need to inform you of our armor and load-out specs.

_Uploading…_

_Spartan- Phoenix One_

_Armor Color- Black_  
_Helmet- MJOLNIR Mk. VI w/ Red Visor and FC-I[2] Recording Attachment_  
_Chest- Hayabasu_  
_Shoulders- Hayabusa with Sniper Rifle Magazine Attachment_  
_Wrist- Tactical/Tacpad_  
_Thigh- Tactical/Trauma Kit_

_Weapon Load-out_  
_Primary- System 99D-S2 Anti Material Sniper Rifle_  
_Secondary- M392 Designated Marksman Rifle_

_Armor Equipment- Modified Type-3 Refraction Dissonance Modifier/Camouflage (Active Camo) Allows user to go invisible without radar jamming…_

_Spartan- Phoenix Two_

_Armor Color- Black_  
_Helmet-MJOLNIR Mk. VI w/ Red Visor and FC-I[2] Recording Attachment_  
_Chest- Hayabusa w/ Sword Attachment_  
_Shoulders- Hayabusa w/ Kukri Knife Attachment_  
_Wrist- Shotgun Shells Assault/Breacher_  
_Thigh- Tactical/Trauma Kit_

_Weapon Load-out_  
_Primary- M90A Close Assault Weapon System (Shotgun)_  
_Secondary- BR55HB SR Battle Rifle_

_Armor Equipment- Modified Type-27 Responsive Holographic Form Emulator (Hologram) Modified to allow hologram partial sentiency that allows it to move freely for a short time. Allows hologram to fight in hand to hand combat as a distraction; hologram cannot interact with objects and when hit dissipates and recharges immediately._

_….Upload Complete…_

So that's us, lethal killing machines on our own but together unstoppable. I've always wondered how we get along so well considering we are polar opposites. Two has always been brash, blunt and determined to see her enemies die while looking at her visor; while I have always preferred distance and stealth to eliminate the enemy…I suppose it is because we can do each other's job if it is required…... I must go we are almost to our destination.

This is Spartan Phoenix One signing out.

_Recording stopped._

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"I don't know why I even do these things anymore," Phoenix One sighed as he put his helmet back on.

"Well, I do." Phoenix Two replied as she walked in the room. "You do it because otherwise the higher ups get on our ass about it."

"You're right Lex." One said laughing. "For once," he added jokingly.

"Loki! Remember where we are." Two exclaimed quietly to One as he rubbed his helmet sheepishly.

"Oops. How did I forget my own rule?" He asked before reciting perfectly. "Rule number three, never say names around any UNSC personnel."

"I still think its bullshit that they had you take a military personnel evaluation just for you saying my name aloud." He continued, "We had just gotten back from a mission and you were bleeding heavily and what do they do practically quarantine you away from me."

Phoenix Two poked two armored fingers into his chest.

"What do you mean by quarantine you away from me? Last time I checked I am not a possession to be kept away from anyone or belonging to anyone," She stated in a matter of fact tone. "So please elaborate."

"Well… I just meant that.. uh." One said as he tried horribly to explain only to be saved by the intercom.

**"Phoenix One and Phoenix Two report to the hanger for mission deployment."**

"Thank god," One whispered before moving away from Two. "Well duty calls Two, let's move."

**_(TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TSU-PS)_**

_  
_[AN] Well what do you think so far? I'm debating on whether or not to continue use One and Two for when they talk on board a ship or just use their names Loki and Lex. LET me know about that too :) Thank you all for reading and please review! Till next time_

_Travis Castiel Olivera_


	2. Chapter 1: Dropping In

_[AN] Hello once again! I am back with another update this one is longer. I apologize about the length of the prologue but that is just what it is, a prologue. Hope you like this chapter and as always read and review ;)_

**_HALO- Page Break_**  
HALO- Talking  
_HALO- Computers_  
**HALO- Intercoms**

Chapter One: Dropping in

_**(TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS)**_

Spartans- Phoenix One and Phoenix Two  
Location- Upon a Pale Horseman: Hanger (UNSC Shadow Class Cruiser)  
Time: 1350 Hours, 1:30pm  
Mission Status: Mission Prep for Deployment.

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The hanger of the Shadow Class Cruiser wasn't as large and spacious as the rest of the UNSC fleet. Designed to be able to cloak and hit its enemies undetected and slip away before they even knew what happen. Equipped with two shortsword bombers, four longsword fighters and three pelican dropships it had only the necessary equipment to fight and defend itself it need be.

As Phoenix Squad entered the hanger the groups of ODST that were prepping their drop pods nodded to the Spartans as they walked by.

"Remember when we used to hate each other." One said over their private channel as they headed toward the Commander.

"Speak for yourself, I still do." Two responded as she glared through her visor at the ODST.

One looked at her as he tried to remember why she hated them before chuckling at the memory. "You can't seriously still be pissed about that. They were drunk and they apologized… you know after they got out of the infirmary."

"It's not funny you ass." She retorted as she lost her self to the memory

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FLASHBACK

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The training room was empty and quiet with the exception of the two individuals sparring in the center. One figure was tall easily over 7ft tall while the other was shorter than the other but still over 6ft and unmistakably female. They circled each other, watching, waiting and observing the other for the slightest move of an attack. Finally, the shorter figure move to strike only for the other to grab her wrist and flip her on her back. She countered half way by wrapping her legs around his shoulders and pulling him down with her. They continued to wrestle on the ground neither gaining ground until they both jumped apart and circle each other again. Once more the female went to strike only to grab his arm when he tried to counter and put him in a head lock.

"Alright, alright I yield. You realize you only won because I let you right." The male said smirking only for the smirk to be wiped off his face when she swept his legs out from underneath him.

"What the hell!" he yelled to the empty room not yet noticing he was alone, "You know I was joking."

_**(TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS)**_

'That'll teach him to make those jokes.' She thought as she walked down the hall to the showers.

She opened the door and did a quick check to make sure the room was empty before entering and locking the door.

"I don't know why he even makes those jokes considering the only one who laughs is him until I hit him." She said to herself as she undressed and got in the shower.

Fifteen minutes later she walked out of the showers thanking the fact that she was able to be in there for as long as she was. While fifteen minutes isn't that long, the ODST's only get five minutes or risk getting dragged out ass naked into the hall by their CO.

She laughed as she remembered that exact thing happening two days ago. Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw a couple of ODST's stumble around a corner.

"Hel'o beaut'ful." One of them managed to slur out. "Wha's a pr'tty lil thing like yous do'in ou' here."

Another one of them joined in this one a little less drunk, "You know it ge's awf'lly lonely around here. And you look like you are lon'ly as well."

The third ODST was probably the drunkest and didn't even bother to say anything and tried to grab her. This led to him having his arm broken before he could even touch her. The other ODST's seeing their friend in pain took up a fighting stance on either side of her.

'Good to know that even drunk they can have some control over their bodies to know when to get serious, still assholes though.' She thought.

The ODST who was the first to speak made the first move throwing a punch while his friend went to kick her in the side. Smiling she grabbed his arm and twisted her body so he was in front of her just in time for the kick from the other to hit him. She glanced to the side as she saw the guy who's hand she broke earlier get up. Picking up the ODST she was holding, taking a second to notice the name on his dog tags, CPL. Stephenson, and throws him at the other guy.

'Stephenson and Mr. Handy out of the fight' she snorted at her own nickname for the man. 'That leaves one more.'

Spinning around she brought her foot up and kicked the final one in the head causing his body to crumple to the ground unconscious.

"There, all done." She growls out as she kicks Stephenson in his ribs. "Bastards."

_**(TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS)**_

End Flashback

_**(TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS)**_

"Alright Phoenix's, you know the mission; deploy, kill, plant and evacuate. Nothing gets left alive down there. Nobody but ONI and everyone on this ship will know what you've done but you're saving a lot of lives." Commander Low stated as he nodded to the Spartans.

"As always the ODST's will be ready to drop down to assist you should you need it," He continued. "Good luck and Godspeed Spartans."

"Thank you sir, but with all due respect luck hasn't got us through all that we've done." Phoenix One stated.

"Nonetheless, I wish you good luck. Now move out." The Commander walked out of the room.

"Alright Two, weapons check." One ordered as he slapped in a magazine to his sniper before pulling the bolt back sliding a round in place. Switching to his DMR he repeated the action before activating his camo to see if it worked correctly. Once he was finished he double checked everything once more before watching as Two finished up her check.

"We good?" he asked and received a green acknowledgement light in his hud.

"We're good." She replied.

"let's go then." Without waiting he boarded the his drop pod and put his weapons in the holders.

**"Bridge this is Phoenix Squad. We are ready to drop into hell. Awaiting your clearance." One informed the Bridge.**

**"Roger that Phoenix Squad. Mission deployment is a go in 3...2...1... Good Luck out there. Bridge out."**

The hatch under the two drop pods opened up allowing the two pods to fall to the planet. The two pods were surrounded by flames as they entered the atmosphere, both occupants laughing in joy.

"Lex, pop your chute in 3...2...1. Pop it," One order as he popped his own chute. The sudden deceleration not bothering either of them. "One minute to impact."

Drop pods and solid ground quickly meeting each other in the deadly dance that is gravity. Finally impacting in a shower of dirt and other debris.

**"Lets do that again!"** Lex hollered the through the com as she kicked the door off the pod, Battle Rifle in hand and scanning the area.

**"Agreed." **Loki replied while doing the same and scanning the area with his DMR.

_**(TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS) (TUS-PS)**_

_[AN] I told you it was longer. They will continue to get longer as well. Anyway what did you think. Review please. Also I will be taking names for ODST's so if you review and want a ODST named after you then post it in the review and I shall make it happen at some point. Thank you!_


	3. Chapter 2: Bugging Out

[_AN] I would like to thank the first person to add this as a favorite story. To be honest I was slightly disappointed that I have been putting out chapters everyday which will slow down over the weekends because I will be taking the weekend to see how much longer I can make this and figure out how this story is going to end when I want it to. Anyway like I said slightly disappointed that I have yet to get a review, you guys and gals make me a better writer when you do. MOVING ON….read and review._

**_HALO- Page Break_**

_HALO- Computers_

HALO- Talking

**HALO- Intercom and com channel**

HALO- Hand Signals

Chapter Two: Bugging Out

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Phoenix Squad

Location: Planet Höhlenwelt (Named by the Germans who found this planet when they discovered it made entirely of caves except for a small area)

Time: 1420 hrs. 2:20pm

Mission Status: Deployed

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

"Lex, hold this position I'll be back in ten." Phoenix One, less known as Loki, signaled Phoenix Two, Lex, to hold the position while he went to scout around the area.

Loki activated his camo as he stepped through the brush around him and moved through like a ghost not leaving a sign that he was even there. Spotting a cave about a klick ahead, he moved towards it knowing it was the only way he'd find the nest. Aiming down the sight of his DMR he checked to see if there were any guards posted outside the cave as he moved.

'Two buggers, well we know where they are now." He thought as he turned around and headed back to Lex. 'Maybe I should've brought my SMG's, much good a sniper will do in a cave. Hopefully my wish of overly large caves will come true.'

He returned to the drop pods and saw that Lex, while observing her surroundings, had not seen him. Unsurprisingly, every Spartan II had a trait; the Master Chief was lucky and a natural leader, I was the best sniper and assassin, though people believe Blue Teams Linda to be the best because they don't know about me. Now Lex was extremely talented with close quarters and a less known trait that she has is her beauty. Lex was destined to be beautiful, apparently not even the augmentations could change that, with her black hair, striking blue eyes and a body that some of the female ODST would envy; of course her armor hides it all.

'Where the fuck did that thought come from?" he asked himself hitting his head. 'Get in the game you idiot.'

Sneaking up behind Lex he whispered, "Boo." Only to end up with a knife heading towards his head as she span around.

"Holy Shit I forgot how fast you are." He said ducking the knife.

"Serves you right for trying to scare me." She laughed

"Alright now joke time is over, about a klick and a half there is a cave with two guards. However the guards are asleep. I would've taken them out but you know how their hive mind works, when one dies they all know." He informed her as he deactivated he camo.

"Alright let's go then."

"Wait a second Lex." Loki said grabbing her arm. "When we get in there hand signal communications only as their antennae's pick up on our radio waves. While they know we will be there they won't know where exactly."

"Ya, I know."

"Alright, move out."

_** (TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)**_

The sky was dark thanks to the clouds blocking the sun and there was a breeze rustling the bushes. Relatively quiet and peaceful allowing the two insect like aliens to continue sleeping undisturbed before for a bullet entered one of their heads. The other alien jumped awake and began to fly away as it sensed the death of its brother and the danger around it, only for it to be cut in half by the razor sharp katana of Phoenix Two.

Turning off his invisibility Loki walked up to Lex, "Nice work. They know we're here now so let's get moving and kick some ass. You take point."

"With pleasure." Lex replied as she switched to her shotgun.

Loki couldn't see her face but he knew she was smiling behind her visor. He couldn't help it and started to grin as he switched to his DMR. 'Man we're fucked up.'

Down into the cave they went, Lex leading while Loki followed. Upon entering they could hear a constant buzzing noise that echoed throughout the cave system.

'Guess their pissed.' Lex thought. 'As they should be, I'd be pissed if I was about to die too.'

"Switch your HUD to night vision." Lex motioned to Loki getting a green acknowledgement light for an answer.

'Oh shit.' Lex thought as she looked around her with the night vision. They were surrounded by a lot of buggers but sighed slightly when she noticed they didn't have weapons only their claws as well as their serrated arm and legs.

"Fire," Loki's voice breaking the silence as he threw a grenade into the horde of buggers.

Lex answered his order with the retort of her Battle Rifle not even bothering to aim for their heads as there were so many. Loki firing his DMR with precise accuracy dropping them one by one, the round counter on the display dropping from fifteen to zero. Realizing he wouldn't have time to reload he reach back a grabbed Lex's katana from its sheath on her back while drawing his pistol from his hip. Shotgun blasts could be heard asLex fired round after round into the hoard before switching back to her Battle Rifle.

"Fuck, I got one magazine left." She shouted while slapping it into place and once more firing. "I'm out."

"Here," Loki said as he threw her katana into one of the buggers next to her.

Grabbing it out of the now dead alien she activated her hologram and jumped into the air. The buggers using their antennae's picked up on the electronic signal the hologram puts out and began to move toward it. The hologram being partially sentient raised the sword diagonally as it got into a stance before swinging. The blade going through the bugger leaving it unharmed as the rest attacked the hologram. They went into mass confusion and the hologram disappeared only for Lex to land on one of them killing it while slicing another and throwing a grenade into the group in the back.

Loki after having given Lex her katana back grabbed his sniper and rolled to the side just a one of the insects flew at where he was just standing. Coming out of the roll he crouched and fired into the horde the anti-material round tearing through their chitin armored bodies like paper.

"Why the hell did I not think of this earlier?" He said looking at the line of dead aliens where he had fired. Rolling out of the way again as three of them swung at him he fired the other three bullets into the insects creating a cone looking pattern with him as the tip and the dead insects the cone.

Ten aliens surrounded him, 'The last ones left of the group that attacked me,' he noticed. Grabbing a grenade and pulling the pin he dropped it and jumped out of the group hitting the ground just as the grenade exploded killing the buggers. He looked around to help Lex and found her as she cut the last two bugs in half.

She walked over to him and they looked at the sea of deadYanme'es. "Piece of cake."

"How much ammo you got left?" She asked.

"Five cartridges of sniper rounds," he said before checking his DMR, "and one magazine for my DMR, how about you?"

"Three shells for my shotgun, two magazines for my pistol and my katana." She replied.

"Alright then, more than I thought. Let's figure out where they keep the eggs and drop the locators off."

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After around two hours of dropping of locators around various places and killing the occasional group of buggers in the caves they noticed that they all seemed to link up to a single cave that went deeper underground.

"C'mon lets figure what it's all about; after all it has to be important for them to link up." Loki said.

The cave they entered turned out to be longer then they thought it would be and after fifteen minutes of walking the came upon the end.

"What the fuck is that thing." Loki asked.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

_[AN] Well that's then end of this chapter. Hope you liked it; please let me know by clicking the button below and reviewing. I will try to get the next chapter up by either Saturday Night or Sunday Night. By the way if anyone would like to make an actual cover art for me that would be great! Still taking ODST names; see ya soon and sorry about the cliffhanger!_

_Travis Castiel Olivera_


	4. Chapter 3: Reinforced

_[AN] What up everyone sorry this is a day late, I apologize but hey this is the longest chapter yet soo. The real question that should be asked is why is it I have not a single review. However I did get two more Favorites and two follows. Thanks to Chicken007 and Darksword490.  
Also I messed up on what types of aircraft the UNSC U.P.H. had on it. I have gone back and updated it so chapter one is now fixed. Nonetheless enjoy and read and review._

_**HALO- PAGE BREAK**_  
HALO- Hand Signals  
_HALO- Computers_  
**HALO- Comm Channels**  
HALO- Talking

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_Previously in Two Unknown Spartans: Phoenix Squad._

"C'mon lets figure what it's all about; after all it has to be important for them to link up." Loki said.

The cave they entered turned out to be longer then they thought it would be and after fifteen minutes of walking the came upon the end.

"What the fuck is that thing." Loki asked.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

Chapter Three: Reinforced

Phoenix Squad  
Location: Planet Höhlenwelt (Named by the Germans who found this planet when they discovered it made entirely of caves except for a small area)  
Time: 1700 hrs. 5:00pm  
Mission Status: Deployed

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

"What the fuck is that thing?" Loki asked.

"I don't know but it's a whole new kinda ugly." Lex replied.

**"Commander we have an unknown hostile sending you the video feed now." **Loki called in over his comm.

**"One we believed that buggers had a Queen since they are a hive minded alien," **Commander Low informed him.** "It looks like our assumptions have been confirmed. You are order to do what you do best and take the Queen down."**

**"Roger that, One out."**

"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Lex exclaimed as she dodged the seven foot scythe like claw. "They sent us out here knowing we would come across this thing!"

"It's too late to be pissed now we need to kill this thing." He ordered as he fired his DMR into the behemoth only to notice the bullet bounce off the armored body of the queen.

"Lex, this thing is bullet proof against normal weapons."

"Yes I noticed," she retorted as she ran up its arm firing her pistols into its head. One of the bullets hit one of its eyes causing it to let out an ungodly screech in pain.

"Well its eyes are vulnerable at least, use your sniper."

"Already on it," Loki replied as he emptied four anti-material rounds into the Queen's eyes.

"It's blinded, now what do we do." Lex asked.

"We kill it, do you have any more grenades?" he replied questioningly.

"No I used them all earli….SHIT, RUN."

The Queen had now zeroed in on them and was standing at a giant thirty feet tall while using her seven foot claws to stab where they were previously standing.

"Ya cus she is so fricken blinded. What the hell." Loki hollered.

"It's the antennas she's using them to find us." Lex screamed back. "I have an idea, throw me the last locator."

"Alright catch," he said as he grabbed the locator from his utility pack on his thigh before throwing it to her.

Lex ran towards the locator only for the queen the stab her claw into the ground ahead of her. Jumping she caught the locator and ran up the Queens arm while dodging the other seven foot razor. Once she got up the arm Lex jumped up onto the back of the queen's head before stabbing the locator into the remnants of one of the Queen's eyes. Back flipping off the Queen's head Lex landed with a thud before standing and motioning for Loki to run for the entrance.

**"Commander…. Commander….. do you read me?"** Lex called over her comms only getting static. **"Commander!..."**

"It's the Queen she using her antennas to block our radio signals. We need to get to the surface now." Loki told her.

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After running through the tunnels of the planet they finally made it to the end of the cave. Knowing it was the end by the light shinning from the sun, they double timed it sprinting as fast as they could through the tunnels. Once they reach the surface they didn't stop running knowing the Queen was hot on their heels.

**"Commander… Commander,"** Loki said through the comms. **"COMMANDER!"** He screamed.

**"I read you Phoenix One. What is the problem we lost contact with,"**

**"Commander we need back up A.S.A.P.,"** Loki interrupted. **"Not ODST's, the queen's armor is bullet proof they will just be killed."  
**  
**"We can have the shortswords down there to assist you in five minutes, we cannot use MAC rounds, I repeat cannot use MAC rounds. We need the MAC to punch through the rocks and for defense only we do not have enough to spare."**

**"Roger Commander, could we get something down here a bit sooner in the mean time to keep it off us?"** Loki requested.

**"Already on the way Phoenix, UNSC U.P.H. Out."**

"Commander says he can have,"

"Save it One I heard him," Lex interrupted.

Loki looked up at the sky just to see ordinance pods screaming through the atmosphere. Taking a couple steps back he watched at the pods landed in front of him with a shower of dirt. Seeing the pods open he grabbed the Spartan Laser and some plasma grenades and tossed Lex the Rocket Launcher and plasmas as well. As soon as she caught the weapons the Queen came screeching out of the large cave and into the sunlight.

"Waste no ammo only shoot when you know it will help we have another four minutes before the shortswords arrive." Loki ordered as the Queen came nearer.

Shouldering the Spartan Laser and taking aim he fired at the Queen's chest only for her to bring her arm up and block the shot. Enraged she charged him while swinging her claws, jumping over them he noticed that the armor around where the laser hit was cracked and black. Throwing a plasma grenade at the spot before hitting the ground in a roll he span around to see the armor on the Queen's arm start to fall off.

"Lex use your hologram to distract her and when her attention is away fire your rocket at the black spot on her arm."

"Roger," Lex replied as she sent her hologram to distract the Queen who had recovered and was looking for her target, antennae's twitching as they picked up movement. The Queen stomped on the hologram and let out a screech of triumph that turned into a screech of pain as a pair of rockets collided with her arm almost blowing it off. The arm was hanging on by a few ligaments. Sprinting towards the Queen Lex primed a plasma grenade and threw it just as the Queen's other arm impacted against her. Lex's grenade hit the Queens weakened arm and exploded as her body flew through the air landing sixty feet away.

"NO!" Loki shouted in anger as he saw the Queen hit Lex and then watched in despair as her body flew through the air only to land and not stand back up.

Aiming the Spartan Laser the fired shot after shot into the Queens armored back before she could recover from her missing arm. Having depleted the laser he threw it to the side and stood his ground looking between Lex's crumpled form and the enraged Queen.

"Bring it bitch," he said as he charged the Queen as she charged him.

Dodging the swing of the Queens claw he ran up it as she lost her balance from not being used to one arm. Jumping off her head he primed his last two grenades and threw them onto the Queens back. Turning around as he landed, he faced the Queen just as the grenades exploded sending her into further rage. As she stomped towards him he stared back at her defiantly before smirking.

"You lose bitch," Loki said as he looked at the timer in his HUD before looking past her and seeing two Shortsword bombers beginning their approach.

**"Danger close. I repeat danger close Phoenix One."**

Sprinting out of the way towards Lex and reaching her just as the explosions from the first carpet bomb hitting the Queen Yanme'e began. The Queen screeched as her armor was cracked and falling off only for the second carpet bomb to hit her cutting her screech short. Loki turned the other direction as the Queens body exploded and sent pieces of her everywhere.

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As soon as the Queen was dealt with Loki checked on Lex and found her to be barely breathing, her armor was practically shredding from the Queen's sharp claws. Lex was bleeding profusely as Loki injected biofoam into her wounds to help stop the bleeding.

**"Commander we need an immediate evac."**

"Already here," the Commander said as he grabbed Phoenix One's shoulder. "Get her on board the pelican son."

Picking her up as gently as he could, Loki carried her onto the pelican and strapped her onto the medical table that was onboard.

"Take off," the Commander ordered the pilot once he was seated.

As they flew off Loki stood up and walked away from Lex and stood by the Pelican's hatch and watched as MAC round after MAC round tore holes through the ground to the locations of all the locators. Hitting the button that closed the hatch he walked towards the pilot's cabin.

"Pull it up," he asked as they exited the atmosphere and headed towards the UNSC U.P.H.

The pilot pulled up a screen that showed the planets surfaces and the ten individual nukes that dropped through the atmosphere and into the holes made by the MAC rounds. There was a bright flash of light as all nukes detonated simultaneously, destroying all the eggs and any surviving Yanme'es still in the caves and on the surface.

"It's done," He said.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

"Move out of the way, I said move soldiers," Commander Low order when the ODST had crowded around the pelican as soon as they arrived in the hanger.

"Take care of her," Loki asked the medical team when they arrived to take Phoenix Two. "Please."

"We'll do our best sir," the Doctor's replied.

Loki nodded to them and turned towards the Commander, "Shall we start the debriefing sir?"

"Of course Phoenix One once we are in the debriefing room."

Loki followed the Commander through the ship towards the debrief room. Upon arriving the Commander sat down and told him to start.

"Well sir, we landed on the planet's surface undetected without any problems, I had told Two to hold position as I scouted ahead…" Loki started as one of the Commander's aides closed the door.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

After the debriefing Loki headed immediately to the med bay to check on the status of Phoenix Two. When he arrived inside doctors swarmed him trying to take a look while engineers tried to get the armor off so they could look at the damage.

Loki pushed pass them, "I'm fine you can look at me later, what is L… I mean Phoenix Two's status."

One of the doctors approached him holding a holopad, "We have her stabilized so she'll survive," he started and Loki let out a sigh of relief. "However she is unconscious and we are unsure of when she will wake up. Even if she wakes up we are unsure of her condition, while you Spartans can handle a lot more than even and ODST she still was hit hard enough to knock her into a coma."

"Is it temporary?" he asked.

"We are unsure," she said with a sigh. "We are doing our best, you know that. Let us check you up she'll be right here in your sight ok."

Loki nodded hesitantly his eyes never leaving Lex's unmoving form; watching her, hoping and wishing that she'd wake up now.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

After he was checked over and the wounds were healed he walked back over to Lex as sat in the chair next to her bed. He sat there as an unmoving vigilant guardian never sleeping as he watched over her. Eventually he stood up and opened the clock on his HUD and saw that he had been sitting there for eleven hours.

"Wake up soon Lex," he whispered squeezing her hand before stepping out of the med bay.

His walk to his room was filled with troubled thoughts that wouldn't seem to let go of his mind; thoughts filling his head and drowning his hopes.

'What if she doesn't wake up?'

'I can't get another partner; no I won't get another partner.'

'If she doesn't wake up I will spend every single moment I can killing every covenant bastard I see and even those I can't.' His thoughts continued along the same lines. 'How dare they take her from me.'

'My best friend, my only friend now; that's why I will miss her so much,' he tried to convince himself but failed to. 'Oh who am I kidding, I love her, I don't know how because Spartans can't love; whatever reason I can somehow love it doesn't matter. The point is he did and that's all that mattered.'

Before he even realized it he had stripped himself of his armor and had lain down on his bed while his thoughts consumed him. His last thoughts before he fell asleep were of Lex and if she was dreaming about him and whether or not he'd ever get to see her awake and moving again.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

_[AN] There is chapter three as promised. It is my longest chapter yet at over 2,300 words I am so proud. :) Still taking names for ODST's so post them when you review; Speaking of which I would be most enthusiastic if you clicked the little button at the bottom and reviewed. Thank you and see ya next chapter._

Travis Castiel Olivera


	5. Chapter 4: Comatose

_[AN] So I'm past my normal daily update and I apologize. However I would like to thank my newest follower Jewish Panda. Thank you so much, however I just wish someone would review. Ya, that's right I'm going there again; __**also I would like to let you know that this next chapter takes place in Lex's head and it is a memory of when they were 13 which is a year before they went through the Spartan Two Augmentation process, just to clarify that**__. Now please Read and Review. K Thanks._

**_HALO- PAGE BREAK_**  
HALO- Hand Signals  
_HALO- Computers_  
**HALO- Comm Channels**  
HALO- Talking

Chapter Four: Comatose

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

Phoenix Squad  
Location: UNSC Upon A Pale Horse (UNSC Shadow Class Cruiser)  
Time: 1845 Hours, 6:45pm  
Mission Status: Complete  
Status: Phoenix One- Healthy  
Phoenix Two- Comatose

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

Two children were running through the thick brush of the jungle dodging low hanging vines and branches.

"C'mon Lex, their behind us," the young male said.

"I know, I know, but why are we running?" The young girl asked. "That's what they expect us to do, in fact they probably have a trap set up somewhere ahead of us."

"You're right so why don't we turn the tables," he replied while looking for a good place to set up a trap. Spotting a large ravine ahead he stopped and turned around. "I'm the fastest runner, so I'm going to keep them distracted for as long I can. You head towards that ravine a set up some traps while they're busy."

"Alright, stay safe Loki," she replied before taking off towards the ravine.

Grabbing a few large rocks off the jungle floor he waited for the marines to show up. They didn't disappoint arriving less than two minutes later. Loki waited for the marines to run past him before throwing one of the rocks as hard as he could. Flying through the air, at over ninety miles an hour, the rock hit the back of a marine's head making him crumble to the floor dead. His squad mates heard his body hit the ground and immediately span around.

Loki waited until they spotted him before running in the opposite direction. Dodging branches and the occasional python that tried to bite him, Loki evaded the marines chasing him. Taking a chance every now and then to stop and hurl a rock at his pursuers while keeping track of how many marines he downed.  
'One, two, three, and this makes four,' he thought as he threw his last rock at a marine causing the man to slump against a tree. 'Only six left. I should probably get back to Lex so we can get rid of the rest.'

Climbing a tree, Loki leapt from branch to branch while trying to dodge the rifle fire coming from below. Seeing the ravine through the tree leaves he jumped down and put on a burst of speed.

"Loki," Lex said motioning for him to follow her.

Running towards Lex he followed her into the makeshift camouflaged tent and looked out one of the holes. A couple minutes later the marines burst through the jungle canopy and headed toward the ravine. Upon entering the ravine their group slowed down and tightened up looking everywhere for a sign of the two children. One of the marines stepped on a tripwire causing large jungle trees on either side of the ravine to fall cutting of the pathways.

"It's a trap, steady men don't break formation… in sam's hell is that noise?" the CO of the marines said while searching for the source of the noise. "They're pushing rocks down the ravine! Scatter!"

The marines split up running from the rocks that were falling down both sides of the ravine. However, the marines just ran into the other traps that Lex set up. Three marines fell down various shallow holes with jagged rocks and sharp sticks at the bottom. The others fell demise to the spring traps that swung off the walls and into the marines impaling them in multiple places.  
From a distance Lex and Loki laughed silently in amusement as they watched the marines enter their own demise.

"It's kinda sick to laugh at this but,"

"but it's funny as hell." Lex interrupted.

"Yea, oh well they had it coming for the torture they put us through when they took us from our bunks." Loki finished.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

Stepping carefully through the ravine in order to not set off any traps that still were armed, the two children made their way to the dead marines.

"Grab their weapons and ammo Lex, while I find out what this one knows." Loki ordered as he walked over to the marine squad CO who was still alive even with five spikes impaled in him.

"Where is the Pelican that dropped you off," Loki asked.

"Th..their g..gone," the CO laughing as blood was coming from his mouth. "You're too late."

"Where are you being picked up, are there any more of you coming out here?" Loki questioned.

"Go f..fuck your. , you ca..n't do any..thing to m..me. I'm al..already dead."

"No you aren't, not yet at least," Loki said as he took the pistol Lex handed him and put it to the marine's head. "Now you are," he finished as he pulled the trigger.

Turning to Lex he grabbed half of the weapons she was carrying and began to walk in the opposite direction.

"Let's get out of here before more arrived, I didn't get anything out of him besides the fact that the pelicans are gone, but we knew that."

"Alright, man they're going be so pissed when they find these guys." Lex said.

"Ya I know they wi.."

"No, I meant because I rigged some of the bodies with frag grenades," Lex interrupted while laughing.

Loki shook his head as he smiled, "You're crazy."

"That's why you love me," she replied.

"Don't you remember Lex, Spartans can't love." Loki said while scanning the area ahead, not noticing the sad look that passed over her face before it disappeared.

"Yea, you're right."

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

Darkness had fallen on the jungle and the roars of the nocturnal hunters such as the Gủta could be heard; Reach could be just as dangerous as it was beautiful. It would seem as if the jungle was normal with no humans in it just predator and prey; however if one knew where to look you would find two children, no older than thirteen, hiding in a camp that was covered by leaves and branches in order to camouflage it.

"So, how are we on weapons," Loki asked.

"Most of the assault rifles were damaged by rocks I could only scavenge four of them, I also managed to scavenge five pistols and five grenades." Lex told him. "The total amount of ammo I could scavenge was six magazines of assault rifle, eight for pistol, and the five grenades, oh I also found a Kukri knife on one of them."

"Alright, I'll take two rifles and three magazines for it as well as three pistols and four magazines. Also I'll take two grenades and the knife. You can take the rest."

"Alright that sounds fair," She agreed. "What's the plan?"

"Survive because, unless we need to I don't plan on going back to the base. Nothing good happens to us when we are there."

"So… camping trip?"

"Basically, yes."

"Sweet!" Lex exclaimed.

"I'll take first watch, you get some sleep." He stated.

"Goodnight."

"Night," he replied as he grabbed an assault rifle and sat down to take the first watch as Lex went to sleep.

'We need to look for food tomorrow it's been three days of constant running with no food and only the occasional drink of water they could get from streams in between running,' he thought.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

Around two and a half hours later Loki was still watching for any sign of trouble, so much so that when Lex tapped him on his shoulder he span around in surprise.

"Easy Loki, it's me Lex." She said.

"What are you doing up?" He asked. "You should be sleeping."

"I would be, however, in case you forgot it's my turn to watch."

Loki turned to look at her, "No I didn't forget I just thought that you would need the rest."

"You look like you need it more than I do," she retorted.

"Yea, but I think we should both take a break to just lay here and enjoy the peace and quiet, you know we don't ever get time to do that."

Lex stared at him for a moment before sighing and lying down next to him, "Fine, but only for a while then you have to sleep."

Outside Lex seemed hesitant and stern but inside she was ecstatic as they stared at the stars, 'Finally a moment to just sit here with him alone without the pressures from the world.'  
Turning her head towards him she stared while thinking to herself, 'He's so handsome with his short blonde hair and his striking green eyes that seemed to pierce my soul every time he looks at me.'

"Something on my face?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

Blushing when she realized that he caught her staring, "No there's nothing, nothing at all,"

"Hmmm, alright then. Well I'm off to bed wake me when you need me."

"Will do," She replied, silently thanking while at the same time cursing his obliviousness.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

"Loki, wake up." Lex said as she touched his shoulder.

"I'm up."

"Ok, so we have to options that I was thinking about last night while you slept. We can either leave this camp up and go find some food or we can take it down and get food. Either way we are getting some food I'm starving."

"Well it all depends if we want to lead around and play with the marines, if we leave it up they will eventually find it unless their incompetent. The other choice leaves them with no area of where we are." Loki stated.

"I vote we take it down because as much as I love messing with them I really would like at least one day of relative quietness."

"Agreed."

Taking down the branches and leaves that made up the camouflage of their camp didn't take long considering it was made up of exactly that, leaves and branches. They also decided to scatter the leaves and branches in different directions so that if the marines did find a broken branch or anything to give their position away, then it would be far away from where they actually were at. When all was said and done they met back up at the camp and went on a search for food.

"No gunfire alright, we don't want to give our position away any earlier then we planned."

"Ok."

The duo moved out as silently as they could while searching for some kind of animal and eventually after an hour of searching they came across a lone Moa standing near a stream. Loki grabbed the blade of the Kukri knife and aimed before letting it fly only for the Moa to look up just in time to run away; the blade ending up in a tree that was behind the area previously occupied by the Moa.

"What the hell, I never miss!" Loki exclaimed.

"Well if it's any consolation you technically didn't miss, those Moa are fast when they need to and it just happen to look up as you let go." Lex said.

"I guess," he replied as he pulled the knife from the tree trunk and looking up. "Good news is we're not going hungry, check it out there's bananas."

"Fantastic, now climb up there and get them," she ordered.

"Ok, your majesty would you like something to drink as well," he said sarcastically.

"Could you?" she shot back.

"Just fill the canteens we took off the marines." Loki said as he climbed the tree and the used the knife to cut off a couple bunches of bananas.

Sliding down the tree he put the grabbed two bananas before putting the rest in the rucksack they took from one of the marines. Taking his canteen from Lex he handed her a banana.

"Eat while we move, can't stay in one place to long in the day light."

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

The rest of the day past uneventfully which was surprising to both teenagers considering that there is never a day in their lives that is slightly normal; if you call trekking through the jungle with military weapons a normal day. Before they knew it the sun was going down and they were looking for a place to camp the night out.

"How about that cave," Lex suggested.

"No, there would be no way out if we got into trouble." Loki replied.

"Alright, how about that hill then."

"Perfect, I think we should both sleep tonight so let's use the five grenades we have to set up tripwire traps. You take that side of the hill and I'll take the other side."

After setting up the traps the duo began to camouflage their camp before settling down for the night.  
"Night Lex."

"Night Loki."

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

The two teenagers slept peacefully that night only to be woken by the explosion of five grenades as something or someone manage to trip all five that surrounded the hill. Grabbing their weapons they stood back to back and waited for whatever it was to present itself. A small hissing noise was heard before a dart like projectile flew at them; rolling out of the way they shouldered their assault rifles and returned fire in all directions.

Running out of assault rifle ammo they switched to their pistols and continued to fire into the jungle. Shouts of pain and thumps of something heavy hitting the ground could be heard mixed in with the sounds of weapons fire. Eventually they ran out of their pistol ammunition and so they stood their back to back, Loki holding a Kukri knife and Lex with her fists both in a combat stance. A dozen darts flew through the air and impacted Loki causing him to collapse unconscious to the ground. Lex shouted in alarm and grabbed the knife before throwing it in the direction of where the darts came from.

Hearing the sound of the knife impacting followed by quietness told Lex she killed the guy. Smirking even as a volley of darts flew toward her and then she knew nothing.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

"Wakey wakey children," a voice said as they shook their heads in disorientation. "Good your awake, now you little fuckers caused us a lot of trouble back there and at this point I don't care what my superiors say I'm gonna get a little revenge for the thirty-eight men you killed in the jungle."

"You bastards had it coming," Lex growled as she spit in his face.

The marine wiped her spit off his face and was about to back hand her when Loki interrupted him, "You touch her and at the very least I'll break your nose."

Pausing for a second, he continued his movement and backhanded knocking her into a haze of unconsciousness that had her regaining and losing it before finally staying unconscious.

Walking over to Loki he leaned down so they were face to face. "What are you going to do now, you just a chi.." He started only to have Loki tip his chair back and use both his legs to kick the marine in the face breaking his nose. Loki upon hearing the crunch of the man's nose let a satisfied smirk settle onto his face as his chair hit the floor taking him with it.

The man held is nose as he let out a cry of pain, "You little motherfucker!" He screamed as he kicked Loki repeatedly before being dragged out of the room by his fellow marines.

"Told him id at least break his nose." Loki said to himself as he faded into unconsciousness not noticing that Lex stayed conscious long enough to watch him defend her.

**_(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)_**

End Chapter

_[AN] __First of all i hope this chapter explained why they don't entirely trust the UNSC and why they work with only ODST's also showing Lex's feelings that she has hidden for so many years__. Second w__hat did you think of the longest chapter yet? I love how I am naming these chapters by the way. ANYWAY I'M STILL TAKING NAMES FOR ODST'S AND IM GIVING UNTILL CHAPTER SEVEN BEFORE I STOP TAKING NAMES. So please get them in, oh and PLEASE REVIEW YOU MAKE ME A BETTER WRITER WHEN YOU DO. Alright that is all see you next update._

Travis Castiel Olivera


	6. Chapter 5: Earthly Discoveries

_[AN] Hey everyone once more. Now I would like to thank chicken007 for being the first person to review this story and so I dedicate this chapter to you. This has time skips in it and before I start I would like to mention I am slowing down chapter production due to all the time I'm devoting towards scholarships. By the way here's a mini time line_

- Masterchief destroys Halo  
- Lex and Loki destroy Bugger Hive.  
- Lex and Loki arrive at Earth 2552  
- One week later Masterchief arrives at Earth, year 2552

Didn't include stuff from the books because let's be honest its late, I'm tired and lazy but wanted to put this chapter out. Yea Timeline was maybe a little tiny spoiler of what is to come of the series but….. Now just to clear this up I use actual references to both games and books the only characters I will have made up are Loki, Lex, Commander Low, most of the ODST's that are given names, and some other secret characters yet to be introduced. I try to make it as factual as possible people. Anyways probably going to be updating between every 2-3 days, now Read and Review

_**HALO- PAGE BREAK**_  
HALO- Hand Signals  
_HALO- Computers_  
**HALO- Comm Channels**  
HALO- Talking

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

Chapter Five: Earthly Discoveries

Phoenix Squad  
Location: Earth Orbit, UNSC Upon a Pale Horse; docked with ONI Stealth Defense Platform "Hammer Station"  
Time: 0500 Hours, 5am; year 2552  
Status: Mission leave  
Health status:  
Phoenix One- Healthy  
Phoenix Two- Comatose.

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

It had been a rough couple of weeks during the trip back to earth to resupply as well as to get Lex better medical attention. However, they were finally home and could breathe a sigh of relief as the UNSC Upon a Pale Horse docked with a secret cloaked ONI Defense Platform. Loki stepped out of his room in his dress uniform, part of being an unknown Spartan is the fact you can't walk around in your armor like the others could. Walking toward the medical bay he headed towards Lex's unconscious body. He sat there holding her hand in silence until the ONI doctors entered the room, in which he immediately dropped her hand and stood up.

Noticing ONI Admiral Margaret Parangosky enter the room behind them he saluted.

"At ease Phoenix One," She said as she returned the salute.

"You will be stationed here until Phoenix Two is awakened and I would like to meet with you this afternoon at 1300 hours."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good you're dismissed," she ordered.

Leaving the room Loki glanced at Lex one more time before heading to his room aboard the ONI Defense Platform "Hammer Station." All that had happened over the past couple of three weeks was finally catching up to him. The mission, Lex in a coma, the two week travel of not knowing whether or not she'd wake up and now Admiral Parangosky wanted to see him later today.

Deciding that he needed to keep his mind occupied he dressed in his fatigues and went to the training room. The training room wasn't your average training room, as it was equipped with a hologram projection program run by a smart AI known as Warlord, for his brutal and brilliant tactics.

"Hello Phoenix One," Warlord greeting him. "Would you like me to run your usual simulation?"

"No, I want you to run simulation number eighty-seven."

"Starting simulation eighty-seven in one minute, please select your load-out,"

Walking over to the weapons racks that had popped out of the wall he grabbed a pair of SMG's as well as a sniper rifle and shotgun.

"Starting in three, two, one; good luck One," Warlord said as he began the simulation.

As he finished talking a group of hunters appeared in a circle around him. Running straight at a hunter he dodged the swing of its shielded arm and shoved his shotgun into its mid-section before pumping two rounds into it. Its brother let out a roar as he sensed his bond-brother die and aimed its fuel rod cannon at him causing the other eight hunters to do the same. Rolling to the side he caused the hunter to re-aim right before it fired causing it to let off a shot which he in turn dodged. The bright green bolt of plasma flew past him and into the chest of another hunter which melted the armor of that area. Switching to his sniper he fired four shots into its chest killing it.

The hunters sensing another fallen comrade let out a roar as Loki used his invisibility. The hunters losing sight of the enemy lined up back to back in two rows of four.

'Oh c'mon they can't be that stupid to actually fall for it,' Loki thought to himself with a smirk before running in between the two lines with his SMG's. Firing as he ran, he managed to kill six of the hunters before the last two got wise and span around swinging their arm. Dodging their swings he watched as their arms collided with the others head causing them to be disorientated. Walking over he put his shotgun to one of their heads before pulling the trigger and repeating the action on the other.

"Simulation completed, congratulations One that's a new record ten hunters in under seven minutes." Warlord informed him.

"Thanks, run it again and up the difficulty." Loki ordered.

That is how the day went, Loki going against multiple hunters steadily increasing the difficulty until he was going against twenty-six hunters at once and it looked as if he wasn't going to win this one. The surviving eight hunters had surrounded him at were aiming their fuel rods at him.

"This is gonna hurt," Loki said to himself knowing that the hunters couldn't killed him but it still hurt like a bitch especially if it was a hunter, let alone eight.

Just as the hunters were about to fire the simulation stopped and Warlord's voice told him that he had to meet with the Admiral in thirty minutes.

"Thanks," Loki said as he walked out of the door and to his room. Twenty minutes later Loki walked out of his room in his dress uniform and headed towards the Operations Center of the Defense Platform.

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

"Right on time Phoenix One," the Admiral said. "Now if you will follow me we have some very important information to discuss."

Following the Admiral into the room next door he sat down as she closed the door.

"What did you want to discuss ma'am?"

"Well for one, I wanted to know how you are holding up since Two has been in a coma? I know you two are close considering the fact you're the only Spartans who know of your existence besides Grey Team of course."

"I'm green ma'am, perfectly fine." He replied.

She stood there staring at him as if she was thinking about something before continuing. "That is good, now the other reason I called you here is because ONI has successfully made another Smart AI."

"Congratulations ma'am," He said with a pause. "but what does this have to do with me."

"There are not very many "Smart" AI's out there One, let alone very many smarter you're your average "Smart" AI's. Their code names are classified but if you accept this offer we will bring you in on the need to know. "

"We would like to give you this new AI, based on your success rate during missions, your skill as well as the fact you aren't exactly an open secret amongst the military." She continued.

"I get the AI as in it stays in my armor like how Spartan-117 has Cortana," He asked.

"Yes."

"Then I accept, now what did you mean by smarter than your average "Smart" AI, isn't that statement just a little redundant ma'am?"

A joyful laugh was heard as an AI appeared in the middle of the table.

"I suppose the idea of an average "Smart" AI is a little redundant," the AI said while still laughing before sobering up and turning to the Admiral. "I like him, he's intelligent, humorous as well as a brilliant tactician and fighter."

"That's good, because you're stuck with him now." Admiral Parangosky said as she walked out. "I'll leave you to let him know about everything he needs to."

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

"Hello Phoenix One, or should I use your actual name?" the AI said. "My name is Aurora; I am a designated as a Super AI much like you are a Super Soldier."

"There are not many of us in existence in fact I," She paused. "am the first one. The difference between a Super AI and a Smart AI is vast. For instance a Smart AI has a life expectancy of seven years before they go rampant, unlike their "dumb" AI counterparts who can live for much longer."

"Ok, I'm listening," Loki said.

"Now the reason a Smart AI's life expectancy is so short is because of how fast its processors work and how much it thinks. However, thanks to ONI cracking a Forerunner AI coding file that they found on a planet, whose location has been deleted from all memory banks. Merging Forerunner AI code and Human AI code they were able to create more than a mere holographic AI projection. I can interact with things at will; I have a life expectancy that is unknown though guessed to be at least eighty years and finally I can think faster than any AI created as well as not needing a projection pad to stand on. I am able to walk around as long as whatever holds my programming is within one hundred feet."

"How is this even possible and why are there not more of you Super AI's?" he asked.

"It is unknown as of yet, but earlier tries to create what I am resulted in rampant behavior or other defects and it caused them to be incinerated immediately as they were not able to be deleted. It could also be that the device that holds my programming is a Forerunner memory storage device that is very unique and all attempts to recreate one just like mine have been a failure. There are only eight memory chips left of the fifty that were found, so the odds are not in ONI's favor and they do not want to use the chips for fear of having to break them."

"Ok, that make sense, but wow that's crazy how unique you are."

Aurora nodded at his statement, "You should get back to your room, I'll be in the system if you need me."

"Alright then, I'll see you again." Loki stated as he walked out of the room nodding to the Admiral as he headed back to his room.

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

"How'd he take it Aurora?" The Admiral asked.

"Just fine, he was surprised at all the differences between me and a Smart AI. Therefore, I feel that this is the start of something great not just for him but for all of us." Aurora replied flickering into existence next to her.

"That's good to know, could you keep an eye on him though?"

"Of course," was the reply as she disappeared from sight.

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

_[AN] SOOO… what did you think. I loved writing that chapter, can you believe the hardest part of writing this was figuring out a name that fit the new AI. Tell me what you think of the New AI. Also still taking ODST name submissions; also next chapter I'll be doing a chart comparison between AI Cortana and AI Aurora. Now please click the button below and Review! Also check out my new poll!_

_Travis Castiel Olivera_


	7. Chapter 6: Awakening

_[AN] Hello Everyone, this story has been amazing to write, while only a few have openly supported me on this site, all my friends have been very interested in the story. I ALSO found a new HALO series of books that I had not read. I was like "How Did I Not Know About This," it's the Grasslands and The Thursday War books, I have yet to read them but I am gonna do that as soon as I buy em. Also I would like to thank those that reviewed and remind you to take a look at the Voting Pole in my profile to decide on pairing. I had an idea but I would you're your opinions so it is there. Anyway the AI Characteristic comparisons are below. Now read and Review._

_Super AI (Aurora)__  
Able to touch and interact with things  
Unknown life Span (Estimated minimum of eighty)  
Able to think ten times faster than a Smart AI  
Able to appear and move around within 100ft of her program chip  
Able to hack anything  
Able to surpass any AI encountered by humanity.  
(Excludes Guilty Spark because he hasn't officially been reported to exist and I'm unsure about a super powerful AI, Let me know what you think)  
Appears as… you gotta wait till later chapters im not gonna spoil._

_Smart AI (Cortana)__  
Able to think fast than a "Dumb" AI  
Able to appear on a hologram projection pedestal  
Able to hack anything  
Life Span of seven years before rampancy  
Appears in code in a purplish color_

_**HALO- PAGE BREAK**_  
HALO- Hand Signals  
_HALO- Computers_  
**HALO- Comm Channels**  
HALO- Talking

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Chapter Six: Awakening

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Phoenix Squad  
Location: ONI Stealth Platform "Hammer Station"  
Time: 0700 Hours, 7:00am  
Mission Status: Mission Leave  
Status: Phoenix One- Healthy  
Phoenix Two- Pending

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"Good morning One," Aurora greeted as her sensors notified her of his increased heartbeat signaling him waking up.

"We received a signal from some friends today, Dr. Halsey and blue team. Let me play it."

_Start Transmission_

_"Lord Hood we encountered a massive fleet of Covenant ships over five hundred. Five Spartans boarded the battle station and sabotaged its reactors causing it to destroy most of the surrounding ships. Four Spartans escaped thanks to Vice-Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and Lieutenant Elias Haverson using a captured Covenant Flagship and a relic found on Reach to distract them. Both the Vice-Admiral and the Lieutenant were KIA along with Spartan-093 Grace, as per ONI protocol Spartan-093 has been listed as MIA. However the more important fact is that the Covenant have found Earth we must prepare our defenses. We will be arriving in an estimated two days via UNSC Gettysburg._

_End Transmission_

"Another Spartan is dead that makes me, Lex, Blue Team, Black Team, Grey Team, Red Team, Kurt-051, Serin-019 and Masterchief John-117 are the only surviving active duty Spartans left. That leaves eighteen Spartan-IIs not counting those that have been discharged." Loki said mostly to himself.

"Technically Kurt-051 was declared dead, and is still known as dead to all the other Spartans but Serin, Lex, and you."

It was silent as Loki was lost in his thoughts, finally he looked up, "Wait a minute, the Covenant have found Earth!"

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Meanwhile in the Medical Lab, the doctors were hard at work as the fought a battle against nature and time.

"Injecting Trial Formula Thirteen," A doctor stated as a needle moved towards Phoenix Two's temple before injecting its contents into her blood stream.

"Heartbeat is increasing at a rapid pace," another doctor stated while looking at a computer.

"So is her brain activity."

"Alright everyone so far so good," the head of the team said.

"Sir, the serum is making her heart go into cardiac arrest," the doctor at the screen said just as Phoenix Two's body started to convulse.

"Attach the defibrillator and wait for my mark."

"Attaching"

The head of the medical team waited until her body was almost done convulsing and her heart was slowing down before giving the command to do it.

"Defibrillating in three, two, one, do it."

Her torso jumped from the shock of the defibrillator but still she didn't wake. The doctors did it twice more before her body showed any sign of waking up.

Gasping as she woke up violently while trying to jump into a combat stance only to fall over her own legs as they were not used to holding her weight after being in a coma for over two weeks.

**"Relax Phoenix Two, you're in good hands."** The head doctor said over the intercom.** "You are on ONI Defense Platform "Hammer Station."**

Walking through the door he stopped about five feet from Lex holding data pad. "You were knocked into a coma during your last mission and have been so for over two weeks. Your mission was successful and Phoenix One is completely fine," he said seeing that she was about to interrupt. "We don't have much time, you see, the Covenant have found Earth. One can brief you about it later. However, we need you to begin physical therapy to help your legs recover."

"Alright, can I talk to One first," Lex asked.

"Unfortunately no, he is regrettably busy. So I need you to follow me the course." The Doctor said.

Stumbling at first Lex followed the doctor through the corridors to a huge room that resembled a track.

"I need you to run this track, start off with however you're comfortable and then build up from there."

"Ok," Lex said as she walked over to the track and began to walk it before a minute later her walk turned into a jog. After a couple minutes of jogging around the track Lex broke out into a run before eventually turning into a full sprint. After thirty minutes of having Lex repeat her steps they moved on to the obstacle course. The obstacle course looked just like the track only it had flipped over vehicles, roadblocks as well as debris of all sorts covering it.

"Full sprint through the obstacle course," the Doctor ordered and Lex did as she was told. Two minutes later Lex had made it through the course perfectly until her foot caught on a power line tripping her. Getting up she ran to the end only to be told to do it again but this time perfectly. Once she completed the course they moved onto the hand-to-hand fighting simulation.

Starting her off on grunts she easily picked her way through them, snapping necks left and right. So they increased the difficulty moving onto jackals which she killed, then Elites that she dispatched after a long fight in hand to hand. Finally, the Doctor entered brutes into the situation which she had a little more trouble fighting. Brutes are one of the most devastating of the Covenant in hand to hand and seeing a Lex wasn't wearing armor she was struggling against the berserk fighting style of the brutes. Eventually she managed to beat them and the Doctor ended the training course seeing as she wasn't able to take on the hunters at this moment.

"Ok Phoenix Two, you seem to have recovered nicely and as quickly as you could have; however you will need to train with Phoenix One in the simulation run by the AI Warlord for a while before you are truly at the level you were before.

"Alright, may I go," Lex asked.

The Doctor nodded, "You may."

_**TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS  
**_  
Walking into Loki's room Lex looked at him sitting at a desk with what looked like a handle. He was nodding his head as if someone was talking to him but there was no one around.

"So I'm gone for a couple of weeks and you are just sitting on your ass!" Lex exclaimed.

Loki made no move to acknowledge her and continued messing with different parts of the handle looking thing. Lex who was originally just messing around and pretending to be angry was now getting frustrated by his lack of response and acknowledgement of her presence.

"Listen here, you have five seconds to come over here and acknowledge me or so help me I will kick your ass."

Growling she stalked over to Loki and brought back her hand to punch him only her hand went through him. The shock that appeared on her face was directly followed by an amused laugh from the shadows.

"You're a dick, you know that," she said.

Loki was still laughing as he walked into the light, "And you're a bitch."

"However," he continued. "That's why we get along so well."

Lex stared at him in disbelief that he would call her a bitch right after she woke up from a coma. As she thought about it she realized that it was in fact something he would do. Shaking her head she continued to stare at him, taking him every aspect to make sure that nothing had changed over the two weeks she was in a coma.

"You just gonna sit there and stare or are you gonna say hi?" He asked.  
Giving into her impulse she leapt at him in a tackling hug which ended up with them both falling on the ground him on the bottom with her on top.

"I missed you," she said.

"How could you miss me, you were asleep. However I missed you too." He replied.

"Ahem, as much as this is a touching display of affection that you as Spartans are not allowed to show, we need to get to work." Aurora said not yet showing herself.

Jumping off of him Lex looked around for the source of the voice while Loki stood up groaning, "Really Aurora you couldn't have waited a few more minutes to sa… I mean yes your right."

Letting off a laugh Aurora made herself appear at around six feet tall, "Don't worry your secret is safe with me."

"Wait, what secret?" Lex and Loki both said simultaneously and a bit too quickly.

Raising an eyebrow at their sudden response Aurora just smiled knowingly and turned to Loki.

"Why don't you show her what you've been working on."

"Oh yea, hey Lex check this out," Loki said as he walked over to the desk and grabbed the handle looking thing. "Guess what it is."

"Well it looks like the handle from my Katana."

"You're right. I made a replica handle and started experimenting with Elite Energy Sword technology and while I could get it to turn on it would only last for a short while. However, thanks to Aurora here she helped me with its power and now it works perfectly," Upon saying perfectly Loki pressed a button on the handle and a blue energy sword popped out in the shape of a katana.

"So what do you think?" he asked.

"It's amazing, you did this?" she asked.

"With a little help from Aurora, yes."

"Wow, can I make it change color?"

"Apparently yes, we just have to find a gem in whatever color you want the blade to be."

"Well I must take my leave," Aurora interrupted. "Admiral Parangosky would like to talk to me about something."

"Alright," Loki replied.

Once Aurora disappeared Lex looked at him, "What's up with the AI."

"It's a brand new type of AI that ONI has made, the only one of her kind….."  
_**  
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**_  
After informing Lex of all the differences between Aurora and a Smart AI like Cortana he looked at her face and noticed an expression he had never seen on her before.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing just thinking to myself."

"May I ask what?"

"No you may not." She said defensively.

"Alright alright, you win for now but I will find out what."

"Just shut up," she said hugging him again. "Thank you for the gift Loki."

"You're welcome Lex."

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_[AN] Alright so that's another chapter down. Check out the pole in my bio to help me decide about the pairings. Also still taking names for the ODST's. Now Review by clicking the button below._

_Travis Castiel Olivera_


	8. Chapter 7: Folks Need Hero's

_[AN] So I am so so so so so sorry. Christmas vacation happened and Christmas and I literally got the flu afterwards so I couldn't really write. I apologize to all my followers. Mwahahah. Ahem. Anyway I have decided that I will try and bring this all the way to HALO 4. If anything ill break it up into stories oh and I also finally got HALO 4 over break, its fucking amazing pardon my not give a shit. So I made this my longest chapter yet in apology, odds are I will continuously lengthen these chapters and slow my updates a bit as I am doing a lot of scholarships. Oh and thanks to those who participated in my pole you have until next chapter to vote before I close it… I'm excited to started writing pairings no matter what you choose. Without further ado I give you CHAPTER SEVEN._

PS. Lieutenant Commanders are referred to as Commander in the UNSC Military in courtesy and formality. Can you guess which one is the LC and what the other one is?

PPS (IMPORTANT): I have changed at least one thing from the book, I didn't like the fact that Dr. Halsey kidnapped Kelly and ran away to ONYX so I took it out. However as with all things fate can never be changed only delayed.

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Loki and Lex and Hammer Station. There is a exact quote from HALO 2 in this next chapter which I especially do not own._

**_HALO- PAGE BREAK_**  
HALO- Hand Signals  
_HALO- Computers_  
**HALO- Comm Channels**  
HALO- Talking

_**TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS**_

Chapter Seven: Folks Need Hero's

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Phoenix Squad  
Location: ONI Stealth Platform "Hammer Station"  
Time: Two Days Later 1300 Hours, 1:00pm  
Mission Status: Mission Leave  
Status: Phoenix One- Healthy  
Phoenix Two- Healthy

_**TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS**_

_"Journal Log Entry… #67… Recording"_

"It has been two days since I woke up and learned that the Covenant have found Earth. Today is the day that the Master Chief along with Dr. Halsey and Blue Team arrive so in short shit is about to get interesting in my opinion. I have been training constantly alongside Loki in order to fully recover from not moving for a couple weeks and let's just say my new energy katana has gotten its fair share of kills even if it was in a simulator." Lex told the camera before being interrupted by her door opening.

"It's time they're here," A voice said from out of the camera.

"Well gotta go looks like the party has arrived, Spartan Phoenix Two Out."

_"Journal Log Entry… #67… Recording Stopped."_

"So why are we going to meet them?" Lex asked.

"No clue but ONI wants us there in dress uniform to act as their welcoming committee." Loki replied as they walked down the corridor to the hanger bay. "So, that means we will be using our ONI/UNSC military rank instead of the usual as we always do when it comes to the standard military."

"That makes no sense, why would they send us? Last time I check most guys and girls are not over six feet tall."

"That's what I told them," he replied, "but no change of decision. Obviously they either think Five Spartans are not intelligent enough to figure us out or they want us known."

"Not to mention Cortana," Lex added as they entered the hanger before boarding a pelican. "I mean sure Aurora designed the firewall and security that protects our existence from being known but she doesn't need to hack ONI database to come to her conclusions."

"Where to Commanders," the pilot asked as he finished up the diagnostics check.

"Cairo Station and on the double, no time for sightseeing today," Loki ordered.

The Pelican lifted off and flew through the hanger doors and into space heading for the massive defense platform located above the city of Cairo. Looking at the monitor mounted on the wall of the Pelican, Loki and Lex watched as the UNSC Gettysburg drifted towards the repair station; which was no surprise considering the amount of damage done to it.

Tapping the screen Lex watched as it zoomed in and a Pelican in the distance came into sight.

"There they are," she said as the Pelican flew towards Cairo Station.

**"We are about to enter Cairo Stations hanger,"**the pilot stated over the Pelicans comm channels.

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Immediately after leaving the Pelican they headed over to where Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood was waiting.

"Sir," they stated in unison while saluting.

"At ease Commanders," he replied returning the salute.

"How long until they arrive," Loki asked.

"Right about now," Lord Hood said just as the Pelican arrived.

The Pelican landed with a thud followed by a light hissing as the cabin depressurized. Shortly after, the hatch on the back of the Pelican started to open revealing the Five Spartans and Dr. Halsey. Walking towards Lord Hood, Lex, and Loki the Spartans saluted once they were a few feet away. Dr. Halsey glanced at Loki and Lex knowingly to which Loki replied with a subtle nod and a wink. Amusement was in her eyes but hidden behind a façade as she turned to Lord Hood.

"At ease Spartans," Lord Hood stated.

"You've already heard my report so I need not repeat myself as nothing has changed. John, Fred, Will, Linda, and Kelly I would like to meet with you at a later time." She said as she turned and walked away.

"Master Chief it is good to see you and Blue Team however, I need you all to report to engineering, dismissed."

"Yes sir," They replied walking away while glancing at Lex and Loki who nodded back at them.

Turning towards Lord Hood, Loki stated, "I apologize but we really must get going."

"Alright." He said and watched as they walked back onto the Pelican before turning away. "Damn Spooks."

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

Once back at the ONI Defense Platform Lex and Loki went immediately to his room to talk about what happened with Aurora. This had become almost like a routine to them when they needed to discuss something of importance. They also had Aurora break into sensitive ONI files and while it was ONI who created her she felt a need to help Loki as much as possible.

"So thee Dr. Halsey knows your Spartans." Aurora asked.

"It's what we suspect, she just had this look in her eye and when I winked at her she seemed amused." Loki said noticing that Aurora changed from her normal color, which was a tanned flesh color, to a red color for a brief second. "What was that?"

"Nothing, I just happened upon one of Dr. Halsey's personal journal entries." She replied trying to sidetrack Loki. "Playing it now."

_A younger Dr. Halsey appeared on the screen and began to talk._

_"The Augmentations have been complete and some of the subjects did not survive while others were handicapped severely. Those that have been injured to the point of paralysis can still help ONI with their enhanced minds and so will be sent to work with them. However, what I fear the most is what ONI has done, they have taken several of the dead Spartan subjects and put them into Cryo. ONI believes they can be resuscitated and I believe it is possible but I am scared of what ONI will do with their "Secret Spartans." It is not that I wished the Spartans subjects would stay dead, I think of them like my children and know that the go out to serve a great cause; I just do not want them to be corrupted by ONI and their manipulative ways. I must go Mendez has arrived and we will see how the subjects work now that they are Spartans."_

"That's why she knows," Aurora said. "It appears Dr. Halsey and you both share similar ideas of not trusting ONI. I suggest setting up a meeting. I can arrange a Pelican to take you to Cairo Station and a message sent to Halsey telling her to board the Pelican before flying into space for a little chat away from prying ears."

"That is a good idea but arrange for it now, I have a feeling that tomorrow we will be too busy to chat." Lex said.

"Alright sending message now…She says to give her ten minutes to finish up."

"Good, that gives us time to get out armor on. C'mon Lex lets go." Loki said.

Heading down to engineering Loki and Lex walked in relative silence.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Lex asked breaking the silence.

"Yes, while you, Aurora and I are a good team; we need more people we can trust."

"But why her?"

"She already knows about us at least partially, that's why." Loki finished ending the conversation there.

Upon entering the large engineering room they walked over to a side panel and entered the password and scanned their retina's causing a hidden door to open with a hiss. Heading to their respective stations they stood with their feet apart and arms up as robotic arms lifted and attached their armor.

_**TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS**_

Having flown a pelican to Cairo Station once more, the two Spartans waited in the cockpit for Dr. Halsey to step onboard before flying out into space. After switching the pelican to auto-pilot they entered the troop bay and nodded to Dr. Halsey.

"So my suspicions all those years ago were correct." She mumbled to herself.

"Yes they were ma'am, I am Phoenix One and this is Phoenix Two."

"I know who you are, despite the fact ONI had taken you from the main program, I know all my children even behind your armor. Now please take your helmets off," Halsey said.

"Loki, I don't recommend taking off your hel..." Aurora said before being cut off as he took off his helmet with Lex copying his move.

Stepping towards Lex, Dr. Halsey lifted her hand and touched Lex's cheek. "Lex you always were the most beautiful but you also had one of the most volatile personalities."

"Yea, well you know me," Lex shrugged. "Never did give a fuck what people thought."

"Yes, of course and I can see that even after these years it hasn't changed." Halsey stated as she moved over to Loki. "Loki, are you still as nonchalant and indifferent as always?"

"Figured me out to the dot of an I, haven't you?" Loki replied.

"As I have all my Spartans however, we did not have this meeting to make small talk."

"Well simply put, we don't trust ONI entirely. There is Serin-019 but as Parangosky's "protégé" the trust doesn't go far on our part." Loki started. "We believe that until we die ONI will never let us go and though cooperation on our part is necessary to defeat the Covenant, eventually we will go AWOL."

"I see," Halsey said. "I too have been doubting ONI, as you have already guessed, but they have resources that I currently need. I just hope that at the end we make it out alive, and I don't mean physical.."

Alarms suddenly blared interrupting Dr. Halsey causing Loki to put his helmet back on. **"You're lucky we have incoming,"**Aurora said.

"Yea, yea, what's the status."

**"Fifteen Covenant Capital ships have appeared just out of range of the MAC guns. I recommend getting Dr. Halsey to safety as soon as possible." **Aurora advised.

"I apologize but we have to move, fifteen Covenant Capital ships have appeared." Loki informed Dr. Halsey before stepping into the cockpit and switching the controls back to manual and shooting off towards Hammer Station.

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"The plating was about to fail, there's viscosity throughout the gel layer…. Optics totally fried, and let's not even talk about the power supply….. You know how expensive this gear is son?" the Sgt. Gunnery stated.

"Tell that to the Covenant." The Master Chief replied as he slipped on his helmet.

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

Stepping off the elevator Sgt. Johnson and Spartan-117 were surrounded by clapping UNSC personnel and flying cameras.

"You told me there wouldn't be any cameras." The Master Chief said as he looked around.

"You told me you were gonna wear something nice…. Folks need hero's Chief, give em hope... So smile would ya, while we still got something to smile about." Johnson replied adjusting his dress uniform cap.

Walking through the bulkhead door they headed toward Lord Hood and Commander Keyes.

"Gentleman, we are lucky to have you back," Lord Hood stated. "Go ahead Cortana."

"Another whisper, sir, near EIO, we have probes en route," Cortana informed him.

"I apologize but were gonna have to make this quick," Lord Hood said as Cortana observed the Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson.

"You look nice," she said.

"Thanks, Thank you," The two of the replied simultaneously before looking at each other.

"Sgt, Major, the Colonial Cross is awarded for acts of singular daring and devotion, for a soldier of the united Earth Space Corp," Lord Hood said as he picked up a medal and pinned it to Johnsons Chest. Turning and picking up another medal he placed it in Commander Keyes' hand.  
"Commander Miranda Keyes, your father's actions were to keeping with the highest traditions of military service. His bravery in the face of impossible odds reflects great credit upon himself and the UNSC, the Navy has lost one of its best."

An alarm starts blaring as the red warning lights appear and turn on and UNSC Personnel are running to different stations to evaluate what is happening.

"Slipspace rupture directly off our battle cluster," Cortana said.

"Show me." Lord Hood ordered as Cortana pulled up the ships on screen.

"Fifteen Covenant Capital ships holding position just outside the killzone."

A comm channel full of static is heard, **"This is fleet Admiral harper we are engaging the enemy."**

"Negative Admiral, form a defensive parameter around the cluster. Commander get to your ship link up with the fleet. You have the MAC gun Cortana as soon as they come in range open up."

"Gladly,"

"Something's not right; the fleet that destroyed Reach was fifty times this size." Lord Hood muttered.

"Sir, additional contacts, boarding craft and lots of them," An Officer said standing up from behind his computer.

"They're going to try and take our MAC guns off line, gives their Capital ships a straight shot at Earth." He said realizing what they were trying to do. "Master Chief, Defend this station."

"Yes Sir," John said turning towards Sgt. Johnson. "I need a weapon."

"Right this way." Johnson replied.

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

Having parted ways from Dr. Halsey, Phoenix Squad headed toward their rooms to grab their equipment.

**"Phoenix Squad, we have a mission for you,"** Serin said over the comm. **"The lead Capital ship has broken through with a number of others. On the lead ship we have reason to believe a leader of the Covenant, a Prophet, is onboard. However, this is the mission of the Master Chief; Phoenix Squad is to board his ship and hack into the database in order to find the location of the Covenants main base of operations. If possible you are to sabotage as much as possible."**

**"Anything in particular to sabotage," **Lex asked.

**"Aurora has been given a priority list of possible equipment on the ship. If you come across anything she'll let you know."**

**"What's our means of transport," **Loki requested.

**"Drop Pod, you will be dropped into the middle of Covenant deployment and you must board that ship through any means possible."**

**"Why not drop us into the ship,"**

**"You would bounce of the shields and we do not want to risk damaging his ship in order to lower the shields."**

**"Alright we're on our way." **Loki said.

As the comm channel closed Lex stared at Loki, "You know this is the same bullshit as always, impossible job, impossible odds, and low survivability. The only difference is the value of the mission, that information could win us the war."

"Yes it is; however, you love these missions and you know it." Loki retorted.

"Yea, but eventually they get fucking old. I would like to live thank you very much." Lex replied using her fingers to make quotations around live as a sad joke, before entering the elevator.

"Look, I hate this as much as you but the sooner we get this done the sooner we can start planning for later in life besides," he said sighing as the elevator stopped at the drop pod hanger. "They only give us these missions because we're the best."

Giving him the Spartan Smile across his visor she walked over to a Pod and set her weapons in the slot and closed the door. "See you down there."

"Always," he said while closing his Pod's door.

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_[AN]Sooo what did you think. Let me know by reviewing and voting in my profile poll. Oh and sorry for the fucking long ass Authors Note. That's it see you all later._

Travis Castiel Olivera


	9. Chapter 8: Regret

_[AN] __**First and foremost I would like to thank my reviewers and followers for their support and while I know that my grammer and spelling is practically perfect if anyone would like to Beta please contact me**__. Another Chapter is here and the Voting Pole is Closed the winner of the Pairings is Lex/Loki/Aurora. If you don't like it you should have voted. Also I will not butcher this story so those that think introducing this pairing will kill it need not worry. __I would like more reviews please, criticism is welcome as long as I don't roast like a burnt Steak.__ I would like to thank Red vs. Blue and Jeff Williams' songs Agent Tex and Mental Meta Metal for the great music to listen to while writing the fight scenes. __**Finally I will start to cut down these AN at the beginning and will then add clarifications for**__**parts of the story that I have created but aren't well explained.**_

_HALO- Computers_  
**HALO- Comm Channels**  
HALO- Talking

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

Chapter Eight: Regret

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Phoenix Squad  
Location: Orbital Drop Pods  
Time: 1550 Hours, 3:30pm  
Mission Status: Deployed  
Status: Phoenix One- Healthy  
Phoenix Two- Healthy

Falling through space towards the city of New Mombasa Lex and Loki listened to the comm channels trying to get as much info as possible.

**"It's a message but it just says regret, regret, regret. Sergeant, any ideas what it means?" **Commander Keyes asked.

**"Dear Humanity, we regret being alien bastards, we regret coming to Earth, and we most certainly regret the Corps who just blew up our raggedy ass fleet," **Sgt. Johnson replied as the marines next to him agreed.** "Hoo Rah."**

Hearing the Sergeants reply, Loki and Lex let out a chuckle at his quick-witted humor. Looking at the altimeter they pulled a latch causing the Drop Pod to slow down as its wind resistance was increased. Through the window of the Pod they watched as Phantom drop ships flew around them dropping off the murderous inhabitants within. Moments later Lex's Pod slammed into a group of Grunts killing them while Loki's landed on the Elite leading them.

"Show time," they said pulling the levers that caused the doors to go shooting off into some Jackals that had come to investigate them.

Loki and Lex shouldered their Battle Rifle and DMR, respectively, and began to open fire on the Grunts in the open while taking cover behind their drop pods.

"Jackals four o'clock," Lex shouted as she returned fire.

Loki pulled a grenade of his belt before pulling the pin and throwing it into the middle of the Jackals. Spotting a pair of Jackal snipers running across the rooftops he turned to Lex while switching to his sniper. "Cover me," he said before leaning out of cover. Aiming down the sights he located the Jackals and fired off a round hitting both as they jumped across a rooftop gap.

As he leaned out Lex noticed a couple of Elites that had gotten close to their location. Using her hologram she sent behind some Covenant crates, seeing the Elites walk up behind it she pulled out her sword and shotgun. Waiting for the Elites to try and assassinate her decoy she appeared behind them. "Boo," she shouted cause the Elites to spin around only for one to be decapitated by her sword and the other killed by shotgun to the face, leaving blood and brain on the crates. Looking over to Loki she watched as he jumped over the last group of Jackals dropping a grenade and then stabbing the Elite General in the mouth with his knife.

**"I would show myself but I would not want any prying eyes to see me so I'm broadcasting through your comms," **Aurora said.** "Now I have been listening to the Covenant comms and I have located a downed Phantom that is still operable, if you're an AI. It is however surrounded by Covenant; putting a waypoint on your HUD's now."**

A red arrow appeared on their HUD's indicating that the downed Phantom was located four clicks northeast from their current location. "Let's get moving then," Loki said as he started walking towards the waypoint.

**_TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS)(TUS-PS_**

Heading towards the downed Phantom they met little resistance because, according to Aurora the Marines and Master Chief were giving the Covenant hell. The fact that one of the grenades Loki had used destroyed a comm tower therefore causing the Covenant to lose more than a few platoons without an idea why; however when behind enemy lines it was only a matter of time before they ran into resistance. That resistance happened to be in the form of Hunters, six to be precise.

Coming around a corner Lex spotted the hunters and jumped back and turned around towards Loki. "There are six Hunters around the corner how are we gonna do this," she asked.

"I have an idea but I need to borrow your shotgun," he replied and grabbed said shotgun when she handed it to him. "Ok first I will sneak behind them invisible; as soon as you see the grenades go off I need you to send your hologram across the street. Once you do that head down the alley next to us and when their attention is on me I need you to flank them from behind with the sword."

"Alright let's do it."

Activating his invisibility, Loki stealthily moved through the group of Hunters to the ones in the back. Pulling a pair of grenades off his belt he slammed them into the midsection of two Hunters before rolling out of the way as they exploded. Still invisible the other Hunters looked everywhere for the cause of two brothers deaths. Seeing Lex's hologram run across the street they headed towards it only for another one to drop dead with the sound of a shotgun. Spinning around the Hunters stared at Loki as they charged their fuel rod cannons. Jumping over the green plasma he saw another Hunter drop dead as he was cut in half. Landing next to one of them he sidestepped as it swung its large shield like a club. Jumping on top he shoved the barrel of the shotgun into the exposed neck of the Hunter and fired four shots. Turning around he saw that Lex had dispatched the last of the Hunters.

"Nice job," Loki said as he handed her back the shotgun.

"I know, not to bad yourself," She replied punching his shoulder.

**"Yea yea, you're both killing machines; now can we continue,"** Aurora said through the comms.** "The Phantom is just a couple blocks away."**

"Ok, I say we take to the roofs for an ambush you take the right side of the street I'll take the left," Loki said receiving a nod from Lex before they went their separate ways.

Grabbing a Plasma Battery Lex went through a door that had been broken open. Running up the seven flights of stairs she burst through the locked rooftop door. Looking across the roofs she noticed Loki was already sprinting across rooftops and followed his lead while carrying the Plasma Battery. After sprinting across the rooftops for a couple blocks they came to where the Phantom was located, surrounded by Covenant. Looking around she noticed a couple of Jackal snipers fall to the roofs dead and the Loki reappearing from his camouflage only for him to reactivate it as he got into position.

Waiting for the signal Lex prepared to throw the Plasma Battery, noticing a squad of Elites heads exploded she threw the explosive Plasma Battery off the roof before drawing her Battle Rifle and fired at it causing it to explode killing half a dozen Jackals. Aiming at a group of Grunts, she emptied her magazine before reloading and taking aim at a pair of Elites only for them to fall to the ground.

**"Asshole those were mine," **Lex shouted through comm.

**"They WERE yours,"** Loki replied as he reloaded his sniper rifle. **"Now they're mine."**

Growling in frustration Lex tossed a grenade at the turret that was now firing at her. Popping back up from cover her shot the remaining few Jackals in the head.

**"All clear,"**she said.

**"All clear from my angle as well...Wait a sec," **he replied as he fired two more rounds and an invisible Elite fell to the ground sword still in hand.** "Alright, now it's clear."**

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"How's it look Aurora," Loki asked as she appeared.

"Well the cockpit is essentially destroyed from the crash landing through that building. However I can fly it."

"What are we waiting for then, let's not keep our esteemed friends waiting," Lex said as the Phantom began to rise from the ground heading for Truth's Capital Ship.

Upon nearing the Capital Ship, Aurora reappeared. "Everything is going according to plan; I just gave them the entrance confirmation code along with an emergency repair code. When we arrive there will be a repair crew that will board us, that should allow no other initial resistance besides them."

"Alright we'll be ready for them." Loki replied as Aurora jumped back into her storage unit in his suit. "This is it Lex."

"Yea, let's do it," she replied as the Phantom came to a stop inside the hanger of the Covenant Capital ship.

Waiting in silence for the repair crew to enter the Phantom, they prepared to kill whatever entered only to be stopped by Aurora when a couple Engineers entered, "Don't kill them, trust me they won't report anything besides the progress of the drop ship."

"Alright," Lex said as she sheathed her katana. "Where is the database located?"

**"Surprisingly it isn't far from here," **Aurora said as a red waypoint reappeared on their HUD about two-hundred feet from their current location. **"Bad planning for the Covenant; marking the location with a waypoint."**

Heading through the nearest blast door the cautiously headed toward the waypoint; a few blips appeared on their motion trackers. Rounding the corner they came face to face with a group of Elite Honor Guards. Drawing her katana Lex approached the Honor Guards who raised their Energy Staffs in response. Shooting one of them with her shotgun it dropped the Elites shield allowing Loki's knife to fly through the air into its head. Continuing down the long, winding purple corridors they were repeatedly met with resistance. Lone groups of Grunts, Jackals, Elites and even the occasional Hunter duo fell at the unrelenting feet of Lex and Loki. They moved together with a deadly fluid grace that came from years of fighting together along with being a Spartan.

"Um Aurora, what door is it?" Lex asked as they came upon a room that seemed to contain endless amount of doors to other locations on the ship.

**"Marking waypoint,"** Aurora replied before continuing.** "Good news is the ship seems to believe that you're after the Prophet of Regret, so resistance in the next room should be minimal."**

The large purple door slid open to reveal an empty room with a large system of consoles in the center. Lex stepped forward and sent her hologram into the room only for it to be cut down almost immediately.

"Cloaked Elites, grenades on three," Loki said before motioning with his fingers a countdown from three. Upon hitting zero they both primed a couple frag grenade a tossed them into the room. Once they exploded Lex and Loki stormed into the room shooting at the Elites that had become visible.

"All clear," Lex said as she shot the last Elite with a shotgun.

**"Alright, I just need you to walk up to the consoles and I'll do the rest."**Aurora said.

Once Loki approached the console Aurora jumped out of his suit and into the Covenant database. "Accessing data…there it is…ok I have found the location of their headquar… what they wouldn't… bad news I'm afraid," Aurora said as she appeared in front of them. "The Prophet has decided to jump into Slipspace while in the middle of New Mombasa. I tried to stop the activation of the Slipspace drive but it was too late."

"So, we're entering Slipspace on his ship," Loki said. "Well fuck."

"Apparently, so we need to figure out a plan here," Lex stated while looking at the consoles.

"My thoughts exactly Two," Aurora replied. "I say that as long as were stuck on here for a while we might as well, in your terms, fuck shit up. I've already taken the liberty of switching off the life support as well as the gravitational generator in the halls leading toward the main hanger."

"Well then, ladies shall we go piss off the Covenant." Loki asked.

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Phoenix Squad  
Location: Prophet of Regrets Capital Ship  
Time: 1700 Hours, 5:00pm  
Mission Status: Deployed  
Status: Phoenix One- Healthy  
Phoenix Two- Healthy

Walking through the corridors of the Covenant ship was almost an uneventful trip. Using the magnetic plates on the bottom of their boots they pushed their way through the floating bodies of Covenant. Occasionally there would be Grunts flailing wildly in the anti-gravity which had only survived because of their methane tanks. However their survival was quickly ended as a bullet entered their heads.

"This is kind of funny, it's like a mystery," Lex stated laughing slightly. "You know, are there any alive behind this door, no, how about this one, then bam dead. You would think that this was too easy."

Suddenly the floating Covenant corpses around them started to fall to the floor. "Well they finally got the gravity fixed," Loki said as a door opened and they were treated to the sight of a Grunt suffocating to death when his methane tank had emptied.

**"Life support in the area I shut down is still offline. I left a little virus in the system that should keep them from turning it back on, at least for a while." **Aurora reported as the final door opened and they entered the hanger. **"Marking the items ONI wants to sabotage on your HUD's."  
**  
Red markers appeared in various locations around the large hanger. Taking the explosives out of the hard case storage on their thighs, Loki and Lex went over to the various items ONI wanted destroyed. A Scarab, fuel caches, and the shield generator that made up the hanger doors all had explosive planted on them awaiting the perfect time to detonate. Looking through the hanger doors Loki noticed they had exited Slipspace, motioning at Lex to follow him he walked over to a Phantom drop ship.

"Aurora, you know what to do."

The Phantom turned on and the gravitational beam activated pulling Loki and Lex into the heart of the ship. Flipping the switch on one of the detonators Lex pushed the bright red button causing the explosives planted on the shield door generator to explode deactivating the shield. Speeding the Phantom out of the hanger towards the_ UNSC In Amber Clad _which had just exited Slipspace Aurora reappeared in front of the two Spartans.

"We're being targeted by his ship; I'm prepared for evasive maneuvers." She said. "Thought I'd let you know."

"Lex, detonate the explosive," Loki ordered and watched as she pushed the button causing the explosives on the fuel caches and the Scarab to explode. The massive chain reaction of the fuel exploding mixed with the Scarab's explosion caused a large amount of destruction to the inside of the hanger as well as lowering the ships shields.

"We're no longer being targeted it appears they're tucking their tails between their legs and running." Aurora reported.** "****_UNSC In Amber Clad_****, we are friendly transmitting security code, on-board are Commanders Loki and Lex Phoenix. Once again friendly, Commanders Loki and Lex Phoenix, we're requesting permission to board."**

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UNSC Personnel  
Location: UNSC In Amber Clad  
Time: 1730 hours, 5:30pm  
Mission Status: Pursuing the Prophet of Regret  
Status: 100% Hull Integrity

Having sped into the Slipspace jump made by the Prophet of Regret the UNSC In Amber Clad came to a sudden stop as the Slipspace jump ended.

"Ugh, report," Commander Keyes ordered.

"Both engine cores have spun to zero, we're drifting,"

"Archer Pods are cold; I'll need to reheat the system."

"Do it and find out where we are," Keyes ordered before clicking on a comm channel. **"Sorry for the quick jump Sergeant, you in one piece?"**

**"I'm good,"** Sgt. Johnson replied as he exhaled the cigar smoke.** "Chief?"**

**"We're fine,"**Cortana retorted back.

"Ma'am there's an object coming into view now," a UNSC pilot said.

**"Cortana, what exactly am I looking at." **Keyes asked.

**"That… is another Halo." **Cortana replied.

**"Say what!" **Johnson exclaimed while coughing on the cigar.

**"So this is what my father found, I thought Halo was some sort of super weapon."**

"It is, if activated this ring will cause destruction on a galactic scale."

"I want all the information you've got on the first Halo; schematics, topography, whatever. I don't care if I have the clearance or not."

Keyes ordered.

**"Yes, Ma'am," **Cortana replied.

"Where's our target,"

"The enemy ship has stopped above the ring; we're going to pass right over it."

**"Perfect, given what we know about this ring it's even more important that we capture the Prophet of Regret. Find out why he came to Earth, why he came here." **Keyes stated. **"Chief take first Platoon, hard drop, secure a landing zone. Sergeant, load up two flights of Pelicans, follow them in."**

**"Aye aye ma'am,"**Johnson replied getting out of his drop pod.

**"Rather than move and fight I'm going to keep a low profile. Once you leave the ship you're on your own." **Keyes continued.

**"Understood," **The Master Chief acknowledged.

**"Over the target in five,"**

"Hang on to your helmet." Cortana said in reference to herself.

Shooting out of the bottom of In Amber Clad nearly a dozen drop pods fell towards the surface of the Halo ring. As they passed through the atmosphere the friction began to heat up the air around the pods, alerting the Covenant forces below of their presence. Grunts scrambled to get into the Shade turrets and once in began to fire at the drop pods. Upon hitting the ground the Master Chief kicked the door off his pod SMG drawn.

"Could we possibly make any more noise," Cortana asked before the Chief grabbed a rocket launcher from the pod. "I guess so."

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As soon as the Master Chief dropped from the_ In Amber Clad _a technician alerted Commander Keyes of an incoming Phantom.

"Prepare an archer pod to fire on my mark," Keyes ordered. "Three, two, one..ma.."

**"UNSC In Amber Clad, we are friendly transmitting security code, on-board are Commanders Loki and Lex Phoenix. Once again friendly, Commanders Loki and Lex Phoenix, we're requesting permission to board."**

Sitting up straighter she looked at the monitor showing the inbound Phantom. "Don't fire and isolate that transmission."

"Ma'am the security code checks out, it's tier one ONI,"

**"Commanders, might I ask why you're out here in a Covenant Phantom no less? You're a long way from ONI HQ."**

**"Long story, however per ONI guidelines we are activating the FireSteel Protocol, however we have no wish to take over your operation."** Loki said having had his face appear on the monitor therefore showing no armor. **"We had our own mission; therefore we will continue this talk onboard and would kindly ask for a completely empty hanger bay to land in."**

**"Alright, Hanger Bay F is currently empty, you are clear to land."**

**"Affirmative Commander Keyes," **Loki said, the screen going black with a click before the UNSC insignia appeared.

Back on the Phantom Loki turned around as Commander Keyes face disappeared. Pacing around the interior of the ship as he thinking, "What are we supposed to do?"

"I would say take off your armor but we have neither the tools for manual disassembly nor the machine to do it automatically," Aurora replied as she stood there thinking. "I might have a solution that could work. I could try to modify your camo and hologram to create an illusion so to speak. It would show you in Commander Combat uniform."

"Do it," Loki said while Aurora jumped into Lex's hologram software. Pulling up the communications link to Commander Keyes he recorded a message ordering for two hours of privacy.

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Two hours later Loki and Lex walked out of Hanger Bay F and headed towards the bridge of the ship. Upon entering the bridge they were immediately met by Commander Keyes who wanted to know what exactly they were doing out here in a Covenant Phantom.

"We were on a confidential mission and when the Prophet jumped in the city we were sucked into the Slipspace stream," Loki said. "Now, as I said we do not wish to take over this situation in fact we would like to have access, immediately, to any new information you come across. When we see something that we know we can get done better than anyone else we will get to work; until then we shall offer strategic advice."

Commander Keyes stood there for a moment before sighing at the secrecy ONI has and sliding a holopad with the information towards them, "Shall we get started then?"

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_Actual Story Words: 3,373_

_[AN] So this is where my long ass author's notes will appear. I apologize for how long they are, I am trying to cut them down…really I am… however I feel that I should post things to either get more feedback *COUGH* MORE REVIEWS *COUGH.* As well as posting explanations to things I have created in the story. I would like to also mention that I will be including cut scenes from Halo 2 at least every other chapter. I don't own those cut scenes and I'm sure you know where and what they are. Anyway on to the explanations:_

_FireSteel Protocol: FireSteel Protocol was created by ONI for special occasions when the high-profile, high ranking and/or top secret members of ONI had missions that accidently were in anyway known about by members of the UNSC Military. Whether they found out the mission, the location, or the members during said mission all qualifies for the activation of FireSteel Protocol. The activation of said protocol allows for the ONI members to have absolute secrecy on the penalty of immediate death as well as taking over the UNSC operation, unless it is unnecessary or the member is outranked, which is why only ONI Commanders or above may activate FireSteel __Protocol._

_Travis Castiel Olivera_


End file.
